Chapter 2 - The Midnight Agreement
The card sat between us like a loaded gun.
Moretti.
Even living a quiet, suburban life in Vermont and working long hours as a freelance floral designer in Boston, the name floated through the city’s underbelly like a ghost story. People didn't talk about the Morettis in polite company; they talked about them in hushed whispers over restaurant tables or in the local news segments about shipping port acquisitions and un-audited municipal contracts.
My fingers hovered over the heavy cardstock. “Moretti. As in...”
“As in the family your mother reads about in the Sunday papers with a disapproving frown,” Dante finished for me, his expression entirely devoid of humor. “Which makes me uniquely qualified to make your ex-fiancé swallow his own tongue.”
“I don’t want anyone swallowing anything,” I said, though my voice lacked its earlier conviction. I looked up into those flat, gray-blue eyes. “Why? Why would a man like you—whoever you actually are—waste six hours playing boyfriend to a tired florist at a charity gala?”
“Let’s call it a mutual exchange of inconveniences,” Dante said, his gaze holding mine with an intensity that made it impossible to look away. “You need a shield against a man who underestimated your worth. I need an excuse to be in a room full of Boston’s elite tomorrow afternoon without drawing the wrong kind of attention.”
“What kind of attention is the wrong kind?”
“The kind that asks questions,” he replied smoothly. “Tomorrow, two o'clock. Wear something that makes your mother regret every passive-aggressive comment she has ever made about your single status.”
He didn’t wait for my answer. He turned, the heavy wool of his dark coat brushing against the edge of the bar, and walked toward the exit with that same silent, controlled stride. The glass doors parted automatically for him, swallowing him into the rainy Boston night before I could draw another breath.
I stood alone in the quiet lounge, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.
Down on the bar, the black business card caught the amber glow of the lamp.
May you like
Without thinking, I picked it up, slipped it into my pocket, and whispered into the empty air, “God help me.”
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